Bowring Treaty

Bowring Treaty, (1855), agreement between Siam (Thailand) and Britain that achieved commercial and political aims that earlier British missions had failed to gain and opened up Siam to Western influence and trade.

The treaty lifted many restrictions imposed by Thai kings on foreign trade. It set a 3 percent duty on all imports and permitted British subjects to trade in all Thai ports, to own land near Bangkok, and to move freely about the country. In addition, it granted extraterritoriality (exemption from the jurisdiction of Thai authorities) to British subjects—a privilege which, in time, proved so irritating that its removal became a chief goal of Thai policy.

Sir John Bowring’s success in establishing the treaty resulted in part from his being an envoy of the British government, rather than a representative of commercial interests. Unlike previous missions, sent under the auspices of the British East India Company, Bowring represented the government of Britain as a whole, not merely its local Indian and Malayan trade concerns.

The Bowring Treaty ushered in a new era in Siam’s foreign relations. The progressive king Mongkut (Rama IV) recognized that the expansion of British power and the decline of traditional Asian powers required new policies. The treaty was followed by a succession of similar agreements between Siam and many European powers, the United States, and Japan. Mongkut’s policies, though costing Siam a degree of legal and fiscal independence, spared the country the military incursions and colonial subjugation other Southeast Asian states experienced.